Page 178 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S. —
of things as they are. Although the labour is wholly upon figures,
and calculations proverbially have no general interest, the sight of
a set of departmental sheets—exhibiting the possible best amongst
all probable charges upon the goods that may go out from some yet
unopened CW.S. works to each different place on the co-operative
map—insph'es respect and curiosity, if only for and about the
complexities of everyday things.

A larger development from the shipping business has been
the CW.S. coal department, organised in triple divisions,' each
under its own head, at Manchester, Newcastle, and London. From
carrying merchants' coal as outward cargo, simply for the sake
of balancing imports, the federation turned to supplying its
constituents. This differed from many other C.W.S. movements
in not being a next logical step. Rather it was an attempt to
jump out of an artificial and temporary position into one more
natmal and permanent. As was to be expected, therefore, the
initiative came from the inner circles of the Society. During the
year 1891 the annual coal trade of the Enghsh and Welsh
co-operative societies reached an annual total of 650,000 tons of the
value of £505,000. These societies were circularised by the
Committee to gauge the possibility of organising the demand
tlirough the C.W.S. The net result was that 156 societies indicated
465,609 tons of £361,600 value as the trade that probably could be
consolidated. A further circular in December elicited particulars
of the trade, on the basis of which the shipping department
made a closer siurvey of the practicabilities. In April, 1892,
a small conference of local societies particularly interested was
held at Balloon Street. Negotiations both with societies and
collieries were then reported. The results had been discouraging.
Although the C.W.S. was buying large quantities of coal for export,
when it came to house coal the collieries either quoted impossible
prices or declined to quote at all. " One of the elements of
the position against us," said Mitchell, " was that the coUiery
proprietors thought that societies by combination might force them
to take lower prices." Said Mr. Amos Scotton, of the C.W.S.
Committee: "They (the coal-owners) could not have acted with
greater unanimity in opposition to the Wholesale if they had formed
a ring or syndicate." On the side of the societies a great difficulty
arose from the number of coal agents who also were store members
and abnormally active members whenever coal was concerned,
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